


Hard Work and Special Treatment

by hateful_punk



Series: Everything Will Be Fine [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dad!Cor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Protective Cor Leonis, Self Confidence Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22191322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hateful_punk/pseuds/hateful_punk
Summary: He didn’t want to think about the embarrassment it would be for Cor, the problem teen he took in, living up to this horrible reputation he had, a loser at the simplest of tasks. And he wouldn’t be the only one disappointed by him. Gladio had invested so much time into his training, how would he feel knowing that his highly valuable time had been wasted on him?And what about Noct?~~*~~Prompto has one month left until the Crownsguard entrance exam, but the accident has thrown him off track. When he tries to make up for the lost training his self-doubts and worries come to the surface and make him question his newfound happiness.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum & Cor Leonis, Prompto Argentum/Noctic Lucis Caelum (mentioned)
Series: Everything Will Be Fine [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1447840
Comments: 3
Kudos: 123





	Hard Work and Special Treatment

Prompto had been quite ecstatic in the last couple of weeks. Sure, it had taken being hit by a car, but considering the pay off, it had been worth it. Not that he dared to say that out loud, someone would surely hit him over the head for saying something like that or look at him with this sad expression people always got, when he said these self-deprecating things. But it was true, the relationship between him and Cor, the relationship to his dad, it had gotten so much closer and even if Prompto still sometimes felt as if it was all just a dream that was about to end soon, leaving him more depressed than ever in his tiny run-down apartment, he began to truly believe, that he had found a real family in Cor. For the first time in his life.

It was still strange for him to call Cor dad, more often than not he didn’t, especially when other people were present. If he was honest with himself, he was worried about embarrassing Cor in front of the marshal’s colleagues and friends. The weekly therapist appointments he was forced to take part in at the citadel’s medical wing, taught him that these were unhealthy thoughts and he should be more open about them to unlearn this behaviour. But it was hard, even with the help of all the people around him.

Not only Cor was a great help for him, he had found quite the extended family. Even though school was over, he still had a lot of studying to do if he wanted to pass the Crownsguard entrance exam, so Ignis was tutoring him two times a week, helping him to learn some more about tactics and strategy, as well as some Insomnian history. He also had found some additional help with his daily fitness regime. Prompto had thought that his daily morning runs had given him at least good stamina and that it was more in the strength and fighting department he was lacking, but after his first taste of Crownsguard training, he saw that he had over all still a long way to go. Cor was helping him a lot, at least whenever he could since he was quite a busy man, so Gladio had offered his help to whip him into proper shape until the entrance exams rolled around.

He had to admit, the first training session with Gladio had nearly led to Prompto vomiting on his new coach. At first, simply because he was intimidated by the big guy, the serious expression, the scars on his body didn’t help, he had already mentally seen the guy taking Prompto and breaking his spine with one hand max. But as it turned out, the prince’s shield was a big softie, always up for a laugh and generally quite laid back. Only did that not mean that the training was easy, while he wasn’t worried to lose his breakfast because of nerves, already at the middle of the session he thought that it might happen due to utter exhaustion. But he couldn’t complain all that much, okay he actually complained a lot during training, but the sessions with Gladio and with Cor, combined with his daily running he was still keeping up with, had made him the fittest he had ever been and he wasn’t as intimidated by the Crownsguard screening anymore.

Or at least he hadn’t been, up until he had to pause his complete training routine for eight whole weeks because his ribs had been broken as well as his wrist. Now he felt as if all his hard work had been futile. He had just come from the med-wing where they had removed the cast from his hand and were telling him about the loss of strength and muscle mass and that he had to start physical therapy soon, he had only been half listening already anxious to immediately hurry down to the training grounds he was allowed to use and see how much work was in front of him to get back into shape.

That had been roughly an hour ago.

Right now he was sitting in the far corner hugging his knees and trying to think of a plan that would help him make up for this break he had taken. After just one lap he had already felt a slight burn in his thighs and calves, his breathing had already gotten heavier than he was used to and after one more lap he had to take his first break. At that point he had thought that he had already faced the biggest trouble, but it had only been the tip of the iceberg.

He might have already known for sure that guns would be his go to weapon, but that didn’t exempt him from the mandatory basic training in a variety of weapons. It made sense, you never knew what you had at hand in a fight, your personal weapon could fail you or get damaged and if you were unable to make use of your surroundings in a fight, you were not fit to take on the important role of protecting the royal family. But even though he knew this reasoning, this stupid rule was the cause why he was blinking back the tears that were once again burning in his eyes.

When he had taken the dull exercise sword into his hands to go through the basic motions, he had felt an intense pain shooting from his wrist up his arm and even before he had fully lifted the sword up it had clattered to the ground. The loud banging was resonating through his skull for a long time and he wasn’t fully sure if that might not have been mixed with the sound of his dreams shattering right then and there.

The entrance exam was in a month and he had already filled out his application. If he talked to Cor there might have been something, he would be able to do for him, pushing his tests back or something. But that would be special treatment. He had already had a couple of sleepless nights since Cor had taken on his guardianship, what would happen if people claimed that he only got into this program through his relationship to the marshal of the Crownsguard, that he needed special treatment to even get into the training program, not even talking about graduating. He had laughed off his worries, especially when his hard training had begun to pay off he was able to shrug these thoughts off, he worked his butt off, he gave his all and that would be what got him where he wanted to get. But now, now he saw that his all might not even be close to enough.

He didn’t want to think about the embarrassment it would be for Cor, the problem teen he took in, living up to this horrible reputation he had, a loser at the simplest of tasks. And he wouldn’t be the only one disappointed by him. Gladio had invested so much time into his training, how would he feel knowing that his highly valuable time had been wasted on him?

And what about Noct? He had always seen the struggles and difficulties that Noct had to go through as the crown prince. Many people were seeing the riches and the glamour, thinking that it was just brattish behaviour to go complaining and frankly, a lot of the nobility of Lucis did deserve this criticism, living in the shine and treasures of others, but looking at Noctis and his father, they were giving their health, nearly their lives to keep the people of Lucis safe. It was not just nice and fun royalty, he had been there for Noct when he was crying at night, worried because his father’s health was declining, faster than it was normal for a man his age, drained by the wall and all the other uses of the crystal’s power. And even though he never said it, Prompto knew that he was also scared about his own future.

And now it seemed as if Prompto wasn’t even able to do the bare minimum of joining the Crownsguard to protect his best friend, now even boyfriend. He usually blushed a deep crimson red when he even thought about it, but the ache in his chest prevented that.He knew that Noct would never expect or demand anything of him, he even tried to talk Prompto out of it at first since he knew first-hand of the dangers that members of the Crownsguard faced and he would never want that for his best friend. But when he had realized that there was no way he could talk Prompto out of it, he fully supported him and even gave his best to help him. And now Prompto would let him down as well.

It just wasn’t fair. A spotting _“Life just isn’t fair”_ echoed in the back of his head and he really couldn’t tell whether it was his own cynic inner-voice or a memory of his childhood, but it fulfilled its duty no matter what. It’s not that he hadn’t cried enough to last any normal person for a lifetime, even just in the last couple of weeks he had basically been nonstop crying, but there were once again tears blurring his vision. But for a change at least these were teas of frustration and anger. At the situation, at the person hitting him with their car and mostly at himself.

But even if he couldn’t stop the tears, couldn’t stop his weakness from being this blatantly obvious, he at least could keep going. Maybe it wouldn’t be enough, hell, it would for sure not be even close to enough to pass the exam, but hopefully he could at least show Cor and the others that he was enough to keep around. He carefully pushed himself up from the floor, with his good hand since his injured one was still pulsating from his first attempt at sword practice, even though he felt weak, he tried to pick up his training again. It could maybe work if he first picked up the sword with his weaker uninjured hand and then trying to go through the two-handed movements? That was his plan, slow but steady wins the race.

His determination fuelled him, determination and the irrational fear of Cor kicking him out for being a failure, that was all he currently had, so he bit his teeth together and once again tried to lift the practice sword. The moment he shuffled it into his hurting hand there was the same result, a sharp burning pain shooting through his forearm, but he didn’t want to give in, didn’t want to accept the reality that his dreams were going up in smoke right before his eyes. His hand and arm were shaking, he was barely able to keep the sword in his hand and he couldn’t even think about using it properly.

“Hey, don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself,” the sword fell with a loud clattering sound, at least Prompto could use the interruption as an excuse, that he had only dropped it because he nearly had a heart attack, not because he had no strength in his dominant hand.

He shot around looking at the person standing casually in the doorway to the training room. He quickly wiped his face, trying to eliminate the traces of his weakness, but the stern look on Cor’s face made him break out into even more tears. His shoulders began shaking as ugly sobs tore through him, he hugged himself tightly desperately looking for comfort even though he was aggravating his still sore ribs.

“Oh Prompto…” Cor quickly made his way over to him, pulling him into his arms and giving him one of his trademark comforting hugs.

“I’m… sorry…” Prompto wasn’t sure if his words were comprehensible since he was still ugly crying into Cor’s chest.

“And what exactly are you sorry for?” he couldn’t really tell what the tone in Cor’s voice meant.

“I tried, I really did, but I can’t help it…” maybe he wasn’t really making sense right now, but it was very difficult to put his current feelings into words. His therapist had already told him many times that he had to work on that.

“Prompto, please try to calm down, you’re scaring me. What happened? Why are you on the training grounds?” Cor let him go, but not fully only enough to stir him towards one of the benches that lined the trainings room so they could sit down, but he still put an arm around him pulling him to his side and carefully stroking his back, very careful of his injuries.

“I’m going to fail the Crownsguard entrance exam!” the word burst out of him in a manner that could’ve been considered violent if it hadn’t been for his ongoing wailing.

“Prompto…” Cor began softly stroking the back of his head, his voice had taken on a softness that resembled someone talking to a skittish animal. “You shouldn’t worry about that exam right now. At the moment your recovery is top-priority and everything else comes second, you got that?”

Prompto really wanted to believe him, but the nagging voice in the back of his mind reminding him of his own worthlessness was still overshadowing every resemblance of positivity he might have had left.

“But I already applied and it’s in a month, I’ll disappoint everyone when I fail! Gladio, Ignis, Noct and y‒ “, the last one died on his tongue, but Prompto could already feel how Cor tensed beneath him of course knowing what he meant.

He strengthened the grip he had on Prompto and pushed him far enough back that he could fix one of his intense stares onto the younger one. “Prompto, one thing you can be sure of, one thing that will never change, promise me to always remember it, is that whatever you do, you can never disappointment me. Never.”

An intense sob was wrecking through Prompto’s body and he threw himself, with all the force his lithe form could muster, at Cor and hugged him tightly while still crying into his shoulder.

“Shh… Calm yourself. I’ll go talk to Clarus that something importuned came up and then we both will go home, you will rest and when you are feeling better we will set up appointments for physical therapy, I will go with you, and sooner than you can imagine you’ll be as good as new, better even, okay? But no experiments on your own again! You will not risk permanently injuring yourself over such a stupid exam, do you understand?” Cor was encouragingly squeezing his back, but his words left no room for backtalk.

“But I won’t make it in time for the exam…” his voice was weak from crying and even in his own ears he did not sound convincing at all.

“Prompto, you are injured. You will take the exam at a later point in time when you are fully recovered and then you will excel at it!”

“But I don’t want special treatment…”

“I know and I respect that! You are one of the most diligent young men I know and I would never want to disrespect your hard work by favouring you or offering you special treatment instead of letting you prove yourself, but believe me when I say, that we would reschedule the entrance exam of every Crownsguard-hopeful when they were injured in an accident. We aren’t that cruel,” Cor chuckled softly as if he was remembering something when he said those things, but Prompto didn’t care for any of that, he was too focused on the intense feeling of a gigantic burden being lifted off his shoulders and for the first time since he had entered the training facilities, he felt as if he could breathe freely.

“Thank you, dad. Really…”

“No problem… son.”


End file.
